The Christmas Present By James Michener It was the turn of the century and I was a mere boy of 10. During the summers, I cut the ...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

"EXCUSE ME SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE BUT WATER WATER EVERYWHERE AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK!"

“EXCUSE
ME SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE BUT WATER WATER EVERYWHERE AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK!”

I’m sure
that most everyone is familiar with Coleridge’s poem “The Rhyme of the Ancient
Mariner.” It’s a poem about a seaman on a ship and there is no water for drinking.
The seaman is parched and says later on in the poem “Water water everywhere and
not a drop to drink!” If that weren’t bad enough, an albatross swoops down and
hangs onto his neck! [No doubt where that saying of having an albatross around
your neck came from!]

But on
Sunday night in my neighorhood area [of 1600 people in total] the water went
off at eight at night. Not a drop. At first I thought “Did I pay the water
bill?” And yes I had. Called my next door neighbor and they had no water
either. Checked with people up the street and no, they had none either. Later,
I went to bed thinking that the water would come back on. When I woke up on
Monday morning, no water. Not a drip. Nothing. Phone calls again and no one had
water and none of us had been notified by the water company. That’s when panic
set in: You can’t live without water. I did have Pepsi in my fridge which
helped for a while.

More
calls were made by others and me and we were told that the water would soon be
on. Guess what? It wasn’t. Then the emails started flying back and I was one of
the writers; none of us knew what to do. Neighbors had to miss work due to many
reasons: Babysitters didn’t have water either, no showers and other reasons. We
found out that the huge water tower up on the hill had leaked out and was
empty. Were we told about that from the get go? No! And so more emails flying
back and forth as to what to do. So many people helped me and others for they
either had bottles of water or went out and bought gallon jugs of water.Strange
going to the sink to turn on the faucet for it is a force of habit; worse was
nothing coming out and the realization that yep we had no water still! I think
I went to wash my hands more times that I could count forgetting that there was
no water.

By Monday
night we were told by the water company that the water would be on by midnight.
Midnight came and went and that’s when real panic set in for not only does
everyone need water but there are many elderly and sick people around as well
as young children—and we had no water still! Luckily my son as well as friends
brought me water [I live on iced tea but had no ice] and others went on pursuit
of gallon jugs of it. Stop and think that you can’t cook most meals without
water or wash dishes, clothes or take a shower or bath and that leaves you in a
mess. And if you have pets, they have to have water in order to live and not to
mention that it was also hot outside.

Come
Tuesday morning we still had no water and by this time, everyone I knew was not
only livid but getting the runaround about when we would have water. The emails
started flying around again and we [my friends and neighbors] decided to call
the health department as it was a crisis if ever. I was fortunate to speak to a
woman there who agreed that we needed help and she contacted agencies and the
fire department. We also called our mayor’s office [the water company here is
not owned by the city] and the mayor took action in getting water to a place
where all could go get it in containers that they brought. By this time, I was
more than hysterical as was everyone else! How many days can you live without
water unless you go out and buy it or retrieve it from a source such as above?
And the huge water tower had to be refilled to the top and that took forever.

During
these days the television stations did report our plight as well as the
newspapers but we never received one notice from the water company—none! By one
o’clock on Tuesday the water came back on; I really thought I was imagining
seeing it come out of the faucet! But the bad thing was and is that a boil
water advisory was issued for three days. Boiling water to brush your teeth
reminded me of an episode on the tv series “Monk!” I didn’t boil water but used
the bottled kind instead.

Today is
Thursday and I am not boiling water yet [we can’t drink it still for it has
contaminates in it] because I would be wornout with doing it and for me, it’s not worth it. Luckily, I still have
lots of gallons of water to use. Run the dishwasher? Can’t unless you use
boiled water to put in it. I know I am not alone in being worn out and
frustrated to the nth degree for we had water in the river [no way would anyone
drink that!] but not a drop to drink! Thank heavens for being able to buy
bottled water is all I can say and I live in a big city but unfortunately in
the affected area. You don’t know what you have till it’s gone or not working.
And during these days it didn’t rain a drop; I had made up my mind that if it
did, I was going out and stand in it!Water
water everywhere and it is the bottled type—works for me and others. What a
saga!

About Me

I was an elementary teacher for 35 years but before and during teaching, I worked for 7 summers as a typist for the Dept.of Transportation. Have always written and painted in what seems like forever. I have a BS degree in Education and English and a masters degree in communication. Was a volunteer for Goodwill for 14 years during which time I served on the board of directors for 8 years. Writing and painting have been a part of my life since I was four; it is not something that I see as being audacious but more of something that is inside of me that has to surface. And I believe that everyone has a creative gene be it connected to music,acting, photography, design,advertising or any avenue that calls for creativity. It is what makes us unique. The Charleston Gazette has been so gracious in publishing many of my stories;some have been in the Charleston Daily Mail as well. And a friend of mine let me use his lobby for my first art show a year and a half ago. Dreams do come true. I have been published in The Charleston Gazette, The Daily Mail and http://usads.ms11.net/sherry2.html. Of late, I've self-published 11 Amazon Kindle E books. Be sure to check them out and thank you.